Tori's POV
I wake up at exactly six AM, and Beck is awake too. I don't think he even slept, and he never had any trouble sleeping before, it's all my fault. I just need a break, when is the medicine going to start working? And I still can't believe my parents went to the Christmas party, I wonder what they're going to tell people when they ask why I didn't go.
"Hey..." Beck says, in the usual deep and husky voice like every morning, he runs his fingers through his hair pushing it back and sits up, and I do too. The nurse took out the medicine from my vein so I'm officially free to walk around '"how did you sleep?"
I shrug and get up "I'd have slept better if you were in the bed with me" I tell him, stretching my legs, not my arms the stiches feel to weird on it. He gets up and kisses me briefly, and I pull him into a hug. I think I could be in his arms forever, and do nothing else, just be with him.
"You know that the nurse came in all the time to check, if I was on..." I nod, agreeing to what he's repeating for the fifth time. The nurse came in the room the whole night, protocol I guess, but she made sure that Beck wasn't sleeping in the bed with me. I don't know what's wrong about that I just know she didn't want us to. All I know is that I can't wait to get out of this place, I just have to decide witch one is worse, the hospital or home.
"Good morning sweetie!" What's good about it? "How are you feeling?" my Mom asks, she's all smiley today, I hate it.
"Fine" if she's going to keep lying to herself, then I'll lie too "how was the party?" I sit back down on the bed, and Beck leaves the room to get something to eat.
"It was great! You would have loved it, but we kept all of your presents under tree so you can open them when you get home" I roll my eyes, as if I cared about stupid presents. She comes closer, and holds my wrist so hard that I think she might break the stitches herself.
"Good morning" the nurse says, with the little cup and pill for me "merry Christmas" she says, and my Mom answers with all her weird enthusiasm, when she holds my wrist even harder and takes a closer look to my name tag on it.
"Excuse me nurse" she stops to hear my Mom, that nods her head "it says here that Tori is seventeen, but she's sixteen" she lets go of my wrist, and I get up to stay away from her, she doesn't know how old I am. This is so fucked up.
"No..." the nurse says, checking her my file a couple of times "here it says, December twentieth nineteen ninety five, so she's seventeen"
"You were in Aruba, remember?" I tell her, and she looks up as if was trying to remember the date "it's ok really, I don't mind"
"I'm sorry honey" she sits down in the chair, and brings both her hands to her forehead, and I'm surprised to see an actual worried expression on her face "I know how I can make it up to you, Chattanooga!" I turn around to face her, for once my Mom said something that made sense "I think you could use a little time away from LA, what if you, Beck and those weird friends of yours went to Chattanooga for the rest of the break?"
Our condo in Chattanooga, Tennessee We used to spend every summer in there until Trina got into Hollywood Arts, and decided she wouldn't leave Los Angeles because all of her opportunities of being discovered were here, she thought she'd be next Britney Spears. So we went for another summer, just me and parents right before freshmen year, when I started dating my ex Danny, so I stopped going too, and than I got in Hollywood Arts and I started cutting and all that jazz...it just didn't make sense for me to leave LA. So my parents went there alone for a few years, until the 'tropical' phase began and they started to go to Aruba and Fiji in the beginning of last year, but I guess they never sold it.
"Really?" Beck enters the room, and I can see he's confused my by unexpected happy face "That'd me amazing, thanks Mom" she shrugs with a smile, this is exactly what I need! To get away from all of this, and Chattanooga is the absolutely perfect place and plus, it's freezing cold in Tennessee this time of the year, long sleeves all day. No one will even look at my cuts, at least not for now. I have to start getting ready for the heat waves during the summer, or even better, I should move to Alaska, or Iceland.
Beck's POV
"I'll see you in a couple of hours ok?" I kiss her cheek, and tuck some of her hair behind her ear "I love you"
She places a soft kiss on my lips, I wish I didn't have to go home, but my I need to take a shower, clear my mind, and pack; "I love you too" I open the door and say goodbye to Tori's Mom, heading straight to my parents house. And as soon as I walk in the front door, I can tell my dad is not home, because I can smell that mom made cinnamon buns, and she only does them when my Dad isn't home because he hates the smell. I'm glad he isn't here, there is no way he'd let me go to Chattanooga without adult supervision, but my Mom, my Mom is a romantic.
"How was it?" she asks, turning off the stove right before pulling me in for a hug "How were her parents?" She sits down at the kitchen table, and takes a bite off one of the buns, they look really good and I'm starving.
"Her relationship with her parents is complicated..." I say, eating half of a bun all at once "but, the doctors and he Mom thought it'd be good if she got off LA for a while" I finish it, and get a second one "So her Mom told us we could go to their Condo in Chattanooga for the rest of the break"
She widens her eyes, and gets a second bun "Chattanooga in Tennessee? Just the two of you?"
"No, her friends are coming too, it'll be six of us" she bites her cheek, and I can tell she only needs me to talk her into it a bit more "Her mom will pay for the plane tickets and all that" I get a second bun, and wait for her reaction, but she keep silent "Mom, Tori needs me right now"
"...Fine" I smile, and she rolls her eyes "but I want you to call me everyday! And you know your father isn't going to be happy about any of this" She gets up, and I pull her into a hug
"Thank you! Really Mom, this means a lot" She gives me a kiss on the cheek, and goes upstairs taking three Cinnamon buns with her, leaving me four. My Mom is simply the best.
"I can't believe I'm finally going to leave this place, my parents, Trina!" she zips us her suitcase, and sits down in the bed "even if it's just for a few days, I need this" I stroke her hair, and she rests her head on my chest and suddenly throws herself at the bed, and I can tell she's going to start crying. She's been like this ever since she woke up, the doctor warned us that in the first few days her emotions would go from extremely happy to sad a lot, due to the medication. And that she would need someone to bring her back to earth and try and avoid a panic attack; It might be a lot of responsibility for a teenage boy but if she's not getting 24 hour professional help there's really no one better to do the job than me.
"What are they going to think?" she says, between hiccups "Cat is going to faint..." She sits up and looks at her nightstand, with panic in her eyes. I know what she's looking for, and I can't leave her with it "and Jade...she is going to laugh at me...and...and..." she gets up and stands in the middle of the room "this was a bad idea! I need to sleep, just sleep! For-"
"Listen to me" I hold her close, just like Doctor Morey told me to, and speak in a low voice trying to calm her down "They're your friends, they'll understand and you don't need to tell them right away" she keeps nodding her head, but she's not having an attack, that I know "Tor, it's fine, I'll be with you, it's going to be okay"
"okay, I will..." she starts to breath slower, and I look at her eyes, still staring at the nightstand "can you give me a minute?" She wipes the tears off her eyes, and sits down in the corner of her bed "I'll meet you downstairs in a minute"
"Yeah...just..." she scratches the back of her neck, and I get down, standing on my heels to look her eye to eye "where are you blades?" Her chin drops, and I can tell she doesn't know if she heard me right, but I've never been more serious "I mean it Tor, I know that they're somewhere in that nightstand"
"what?" her eyes fill up with tears, and curls her lips together, biting her nails "do you really think I'm going to keep cutting I mean..." I stand still, and she starts to freak out again, but I can't let her keep them.
"No! I'm not going to use them, I...I want to keep them as a memory!"
"Tor, c'mon..." she nods her head, but suddenly pulls the last drawer taking everything from it, and throwing things carelessly on the floor, picking up a tiny little blade, and a sharpener. But she doesn't give them to me, she just stares and starts to cry again but silently, she's not shaking or anything like that just tears streaming down her face "it'll be good for you, I promise"
I take them from her hand, and she closes it in a fist, biting her bottom lip. I know she can buy another blade anytime she wants, but the doctor specifically said to get rid of the things she used to cut, so that's what I'm doing. "TORI, BECK, THEY'RE HERE!" her Mom yells, time to go.
Tori's POV
Everyone was so excited, even Jade was somewhat happy to get away for a few days. And now that we're in a cab on our way to my Condo, they just won't stand still. Specially after an uneventful short plane right, where you can't sleep because it's not that long, but if you stay awake you get bored. And the best thing, it's so cold, I won't even roll up my sleeves by mistake, in the risk of showing my cuts, so I feel a bit more relaxed about that. The taxi crosses one of the four bridges that go over the Tennessee river, and I take some of the cash my Mom gave me to pay, as he goes off the bridge, and gets in the street right in front of the River, going around the corner, and finally reaching the building.
"There's a great aquarium here!" Cat yells, getting off the car right after Robbie and Jade "My brother once..." I stop listening waiting for my change, as the boys get all of our luggage. I can't believe we're here!
"Miss Vega, is that you?!" I smile at the sight of Earl, the same doorman from four years ago "You are so much taller than the last time I saw you" He offers me his hand, and I shake it; I like it that things didn't change around here, I used to love everything about it, including Earl and his cheesy white doorman gloves.
"Thanks Earl, it's nice to see you here" he opens an even bigger smile, and holds the door for me
"It's good to have you back Miss Vega" I nod, and get in the elevator that Cat's been holding for a few minutes. And in a matter of seconds I open the door, to see the apartment looks exactly the same. The same style of decor of our house in LA, but much more glamours my parents put way more money in this one since it was like a hotel to us and it had to be nicer than our actual home. The giant windows facing the River, plasma TV's in every room and everything matches. I never knew how my parents were able to afford all of this, maybe they didn't have much money when I was born because they were investing everything in this Condo.
No, I'm not going to think about that now.
"This is awesome!" Robbie pledges, dropping his bags on the corner. And everyone runs inside the hall, to find the rooms. Except for me and Beck of course, I get this feeling he won't let me out of his sight, and...No Tori, you're not going to over think things now, not in Chattanooga, where good things happen. "No! I said I was going to sle-" he screams
"C'mon Robbie I got here fi-" Andre yells back, I can't seriously believe they're fighting over who sleeps in what bed
"You two just quit it!" Jade yells at last "This bed is mine" I hear a choir of grunting, and I follow the noise to mine and Trina's room, full of little Chattanooga stuff that we bought and never thought to bring home, tickets to the aquarium and pictures of me and my friends over the summer. I was so cute, and happy. Old Tori, that used to look forward to the future, really old Tori.
"Tori!" Robbie yells, calling me from the guest room, where Beck placed his things on the king queen Bed, and Andre on the king size, and since the bed left of mine and Trina's room is the one I'm going to sleep in, Robbie has no bed "Do I really have to share the bed with Andre?"
"Dude, you're sleeping in the couch" he says, and Beck chuckles, and now it hit me. My parents room is locked, I'll sleep alone, without Beck.
"But I have BACK PROBLEMS!"he yells and Beck gets up, tapping him on the shoulder
"Just sleep on the couch Robbie" Beck tells him, and he shrugs taking his bag to the living room "This is place is really great" I smile shyly, it's still not easy to do so; He puts his arm on my back and I press my lips against his, as he cups my cheek, and deepen the kiss. And it's our first real kiss since the...event, and I finally feel like it's not that bad being alive as longs as I don't need to anything else beside kissing him.
"Ok, I should go..." Andre says, and I ignore him, pressing Beck against the wall, and tracing his arms, and shoulders reaching his neck "THERE'S NO FOOD!"
"what?" Beck says, pulling away "no food?" I look at him, grinning and he gives me a kiss on the side of my head "I love you, but this is an emergency"
"...ok, let's go the grocery shop" he takes my hand, and I tell everyone that we're going to the market, naturally they all want to go with us, except for Jade, she's too happy looking at pictures of me going through my awkward phase.
"We're going out, yay!" Cat yells, heading out the door.
"I'm going to put a leash on her" Robbie says, and walks out too and Jade appears holding the elevator door out of nowhere "I thought you were staying in" he says, and she raises her eyebrow, making Robbie squeak and stand behind Andre. We go down, and there's Earl, holding the door to all of us. I take Beck's hand, and look behind right before going around the corner, and Earl winks at me, just like he did a few years ago.
"How are you not cold?" Jade asks Beck, that oddly enough is wearing basically the same clothes he wears in LA maybe a thicker coat, but no more than that.
"He's Canadian" I explain, and they all nod understanding what I meant, and Beck frowns. We keep walk past the aquarium, and cross the street and I slow down to stay behind everyone else, leaning against a wall and pointing to a little graffiti right under a Ben&Jerry's sign, saying T + A.
"Did you know" I begin to say, and he rests his arm beside me, placing one leg between mines "I had my first kiss here, I was twelve"
He smiles "that's cute" I pull his head and he kisses me, and I'm starting to consider not going to the market, to stay here kissing Beck. I pull away to breathe, when I spot a guy, coming in our direction, and it takes me a few seconds to realize that I know him.
"Torrey Vega! I can't believe that's really you"
"Austin?"
A/N: Hey Guys, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the reviews, I'm really happy to be getting them again! What do you guys think this Austin person is? Will he be good for Tori's recovery? As always, I'd love to hear what you have to say, please leave a comment. Love you all, to the moon and back,
- Kiribati